this could all be bullshit, but when I see both left-wing DSAers and dissident righters coalescing around Yang, I see big changes coming

if the neolibs succeed in forcing Biden or Harris through they'll just give Trump another term and postpone the Yang realignment to 2024

Matt I agree there needs to be realignment between the parties. The Trump election was just the first salvo of that. I don't think it is over yet

AOC, the BernieBros, YangGang, and neolibs will pull the party apart in various directions. It'll be fun to watch, but will likely be a precursor to the split between the neocons and Trump nationalists and eventually dissolution/civil strife of the country.

Yang could have a chance in 2024. There's no good successor to Trump yet.

Agree CiC

Although a Pence/Carlson ticket would be fun and could have a shot.

going by Skowronek's theory of presidential power, Trump is a disjunctive president: he presides over a collapsing political coalition and tries to realign it to match the mood of the times, but fails due to a lack of institutional support

But things are still fluid

So far, agree with that Matt

Carter was the last disjunctive president we had: he tried to realign the New Deal Coalition to accept deregulation (e.g. airline deregulation), but failed because no other Democrats supported him

usually disjunctive presidents serve one term and get BTFOed when they run for reelection

the one partial exception to this was in 1856: Pierce was a disjunctive president, but because opposition to the Democrats splintered between the Republicans and Know-Nothings, the Democrats held on to the presidency for another term

I see something like that happening, with the populist and corporatist wings of the Democrats splintering and Trump winning reelection due entirely to vote splitting

I am less certain it there is an ultimate failure to reform though, especially when the opposing party is in such disarray

there are so many ways the Democrats could splinter

I already see people mad that Biden is being groomed as the nominee because he's white and male

if the identity politics/corporatists result in Trump winning reelection they will be utterly discredited and booted from the Democratic Party

Trump has been at least partially successful. The Rust Belt area I'm in has seen a good economic recovery, which was the reason a lot of blue-collar union workers voted Trump in. As long as we don't hit a major recession/depression the Rust Belt will reelect him. The wall is generally supported, but not nearly a big deal as the economy.

As long as Trump can keep blue-collar workers voting for him, we'll likely win. Biden is the most dangerous, since he can undermine Trump amongst the blue-collar union workers.

Regardless of which party aegis it is under, the next stable government in the US will have policies that swing to favoring workers and in general have higher taxes.

I think Biden is likely to win Iowa, but won't fare well outside the Rust Belt. Bernie will win New Hampshire, Kamala will win California, and it will devolve to a clusterfuck.

I'm increasingly warming up to the idea of a VAT

I favor things that raise wages, employment, etc, over gibs

VAT is standard everywhere but the U.S.

A chemical VAT to throw commies in? I prefer helicopters, but a chemical VAT will work too.

I do think that local and state sales taxes should be replaced with VATs

lol

and the income tax, as Roosh mentioned

shift the burden of taxation away from individuals and onto corporations

@phinami Trump's tried to do that, but by favoring national companies at the expense of global companies.

I like getting rid of income taxes and going to sales type taxes. A VAT isn't my first choice but can live with it. Even better the CiC style vat

or hell, changing the income tax to a flat tax would be an acceptable compromise

Hungary has a 15 percent flat tax and it boosted the economy big time

Agree CiC, now we need more of that type of thing

Just be careful about my type of vat. You don't want to make a bunch of Jokers.

I'd favor tariffs over taxes. Replace import quotas with tarriffs and use the additional income to lower personal income taxes.

Agree CiC but I'm being pragmatic and am ok with a mixture of things if we can get rid of income taxes. Income taxes unfairly target what is left of the middle class

And cut aid and foreign military adventures. A lot of countries would be fine with us cutting aid as long as it meant we got out of their hair at the same time.

Only working and middle really have income. The top brackets make their money on their ownership/stock/options

May I ask what a VAT is?